Ishikari River
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The Ishikari River (石狩川 Ishikari-gawa?) is a river in Hokkaidō, Japan. 268 km in length (third longest in Japan and longest in Hokkaidō), it has a drainage area of 14,330 km² (second largest in Japan).
It rises from Mount Ishikari and flows through Asahikawa and Sapporo. Major tributaries of the river include Chūbetsu, Uryū, Sorachi and Toyohira. Until 40,000 years ago, it fell into the Pacific Ocean near Tomakomai. Lava from the volcanic Shikotsu mountains dammed up the river and moved its mouth to the Sea of Japan.
The name of the river is derived from the Ainu word winding river. As it suggests, the river once meandered in the Ishikari plain and was as long as the Shinano River, the longest river in Japan. Massive construction shortened the river by 100 kilometers and left many oxbow lakes (三日月湖 mikatsuki ko?, lit. crescent moon lake) in the plain.
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